D’Neronique

Original Point: That the people on are constantly in the habit of mislabeling the genre. My mistake last time was by showing what melodrama is, however, failed to show how the writers misuse it.

It is true that Melodrama means ‘melody drama.’ But it is also true that Tragedy means ‘goat song.’

It is also true that many melodramas are over-sensual zed. This is a natural biproduct of the oversimplified characters, where one is undoubtedly good and the other is undoubtedly evil. However, not all over-sensualized works of literature are melodramas. In other words, it is possible to have over-dramaticized characters and an over-sensualized plot in a work of literature that is not a melodrama.

Besides the characters, melodramas do have other characteristics: they end happily; the evil side loses; there are usually special effects. (Yes, even on the 19th century stages, melodramas had special effects.)

Movies that fall into this: Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, all Disney movies (the original ‘melody drama’ makes itself extra known in Disney movies), Spiderman, Sincity (ß in it‘s own special way), Indiana Jones…etc…

(Extra note: Often times, the evil character is not a person. Therefore, movies like Volcano, The Day After Tomorrow, and Independence Day are also good examples.)

Therefore, all of these definitions makes sense:

"melodrama: n. 1 Originally, a drama with a romantic story or plot, sensational incidents, and usually including some music and song. 2 Any sensational and emotional drama, usually having a happy ending. 3 Behavior or language of a theatrical nature" --Funk and Wagnalls " -- Standard Dictionary: International Edition"

(Melodramas often do include romance. It’s usually the hero saving the heroine from the villian scenario.)

"melodrama: n. An extravagantly theatrical play in which action and plot predominate over characterization" --The Merriam-Webster Dictionary

"melodrama: noun C or U a story, play, or film in which the characters show stronger emotions than real people usually do" --Cambridge Online Dictionary

(That’s because they have to show that they’re really, really evil or really, really good.)

Movies that are not melodramas: Donnie Darko, the Virgin Suicides, American Beauty, Trainspotting, Pulp Fiction, Clockwork Orange, Pearl Harbor…etc…

(Pearl Harbor is important because is has many elements of a melodrama, but is not a melodrama.)

Here are a few things I found on this site that claim to be melodrama: (I didn’t ask if I could show any of these. I hope I get in trouble)

A Prize on your Door -- Queen of the Harpies

Looking in -- Sovia

Inheritance of Dismay -- Loralie1

High Hopes and Low Chances to get out of the book -- Majare Sanguine

Of my findings, only Inheritance of Dismay was actually a melodrama. All the others were just angst poems that were like ‘fuck you for loving me, bitch.’

Which is another point. Melodramas aren’t really built to be poems. They technically could be an epic poem, though those are far and few between on Fictionpress.

When I continued my search further, I found that all of the real melodramas are either those that a.) had to be written for a class assignment (which is seriously, so annoying, people. Don’t post your schoolwork) or b.) was in play format.

I have read stories that claim to be melodramas that were in “novel” form, however, they too sucked at the meaning of ‘melodrama.’